Trying: A Memoir

In this hypnotic account, Caldwell (The Red Zone) chronicles a transformative stretch of her mid-30s. The title pulls triple duty: much of the book concerns Caldwell “trying” to get pregnant, which proves “trying” after years of failed treatments. When her husband admits his addiction to hiring sex workers and their marriage implodes, the title also nods to Caldwell “trying” to make their union work despite her preference for women. Told in short, poetic dispatches—many of which span less than a page—the book’s first half marinates in the mundane awfulness of infertility, with Caldwell’s signature wryness leavening the gloom. (“I shouldn’t expect the writers of Friends to know all of this,” she writes after pointing out the medical impossibility of the character Phoebe’s pregnancy. “I just wish I didn’t have to know it all, either.”) Then her husband’s transgressions jolt the narrative off its axis, and Caldwell recounts the dizzying liberation of rediscovering her queerness after her divorce. This reads more like a journal than a tidy narrative; there’s little resolution on offer, just artful questioning. For readers grappling with similar questions about motherhood, sexuality, and the meaning of a life well-lived, it’s a gift. Agent: Rebecca Gradinger, UTA. (Aug.)